Key: G
Introduction:
Am7 D7
Yesterday when I was young
G7M C7M
The taste of love was sweet as rain upon my tongue
F#m7 B7
I teased at life as if it were a foolish game
Em B+ E7
The way the evening breeze may tease a candle flame.
Am7 D7
The thousand dreams I dreamed, the splendid things I planned--
G7M C7M
I always built to last on weak and shifting sand
F#m7 B7
I lived by night and shunned the naked light of day,
Em B+ E7
And only now I see how the years ran away.
Am7 D7
Yesterday when I was young,
G7M C7M
So many happy songs were waiting to be sung,
Am7 B7
So many wayward pleasures lay in store for me,
Em B+ E7
And so much pain my dazzled eyes refused to see.
Am7 D7
I ran so fast that time and youth, at last, ran out,
G7M C7M
I never stopped to think what life was all about
Am7 B7
And ev'ry conversation I can now recall
Em B+ E7
Concerned itself with me, and nothing else at all.
Am7 D7
Yesterday the moon was blue,
G7M C7M
And ev'ry crazy day brought something new to do,
F#m7 B7
I used my magic age as if it were a wand,
Em B+ E7
And never saw the waste and emptiness beyond.
Am7 D7
The game of love I played with arrogance and pride,
G7M C7M
And ev'ry flame I lit too quickly, quickly died
F#m7 B7
The friends I made all seemed somehow to drift away
Em B+ E7
And only I am left on stage to end the play.
Am7 D7
There are so many songs in me that won't be sung,
G C7M
I feel the bitter taste of tears upon my tongue
Am7 B7
The time has come for me to pay for yesterday
Em Am Em
When I was young.